Closed caption support with timewarp

ABSTRACT

Method of providing closed captioned data to a television viewer comprised of detecting closed captioned data signals transmitted in conjunction with a television signal, decoding the data signals to caption display signals, and displaying the caption display signals on an auxiliary screen separate from a screen displaying the television signals.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methods of displaying closed captioned texttransmitted in conjunction with a television signal.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

In order to aid the hearing impaired, written text corresponding tospoken dialog is encoded into transmitted television signals. This textis decoded in a decoder at the viewing location of the televisionprogram, and is displayed over the video signal of the television set,whereby the audio portion of a transmitted program may be read from thetelevision screen. The text is typically displayed adjacent the bottomof the television screen. The encoding of the text signal into thetelevision signal whereby it is not displayed unless decoded is referredto a closed captioning.

A North American closed captioning standard was originally proposed byThe Closed Captioning Association and the Public Broadcasting System(PBS). The standard is defined by the FCC in FCC document FCC-91-119 andin the FCC Federal Register Vol. 56 No 114.

The standard specifies that closed captioned data should be transmittedon scan line 21 of every odd video field of the North Americaninterlaced video signal. The closed captioned signal is sent as a blackand white (luminance only) signal with no color component. Each oddvideo field which contains closed captioned data is prefixed with a0.5035 MHz sinusoidal run-in signal which is intended to be used at thedecoder to lock to the closed captioned data. This run-in signal isillustrated as element 1 in FIG. 1. A start bit 2 immediately followsthe run-in signal 1, which is immediately followed by 16 bits of closedcaptioning data 3, These bits form two 7 bit ASCII codes plus odd paritybits, forming two bytes 4 of closed captioned data. These two bytes candefine text or define color, style, and attribute information. The bytesmay also contain information which controls the mode of the decoder,which defines whether the text should be shown full screen, 2, 3 or 4line roll up, paint on, and pop on. Cursor positioning data may also bedefined.

In prior art closed captioned signal decoding systems a decoder isconnected between the incoming video signal and the television set. Whenactivated, the decoder decodes the closed captioned data signal andproduces a video signal containing the closed captioned text, whichreplaces part or all of a television program which is being watched. Theresult is that some portion of the broadcast image is obscured by theclosed captioned text. Further, passing through the decoder the image tobe displayed on the television screen may be degraded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method whereby persons with a personalcomputer may obtain and view closed captioned text without obscuring anyportion of the television image. Further, it provides a method wherebythe closed captioned text may be controlled in ways in addition to or insubstitution for that specified by the closed captioned control bytes.

In accordance with the present invention, the video signal may displayedon a television screen with no closed captioned text, and closedcaptioned text may be displayed on a totally separate display screenthat may be placed adjacent the television screen.

The font and font size may be changed to any pleasing font and size asdesired by the user, the color and background, and the display mode maybe controlled to whatever is desired by the user.

In accordance with another embodiment, the video program may bedisplayed without obstruction in a window on a single display screen,and the closed captioned text may be displayed in a separate window onthe same display screen. The positioning and sizes of either or both ofthe video program and closed captioned text windows on the displayscreen may be controlled to whatever is desired by the user.

The result is an improvement in the usability of the television programwith closed captioned text, since at the same time the entire videoprogram may be viewed without obstruction by the closed captioned text,and the character of the text, its display mode and placement on thescreen may be completely controlled by the user. Since the size of thewindows may be controlled, a user who is both hearing and seeingimpaired may optimize the video and text sizes to suit the disability ofthe user.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the videosignal is applied to a video interface circuit of a computer, whereclosed captioned text is detected and decoded. The closed captioned textis applied to the computer display screen, with parameters controllableby the user. The computer display screen may be placed adjacent to atelevision screen which displays the television program without closedcaptioned text, whereby both screens are visible at the same time by theuser. Since the program displayed by the television screen does not passthrough a decoder, degradation thereby is avoided, yet the closedcaptioned text is available to the user.

In accordance with another embodiment, the video signal is applied to avideo interface circuit of a multimedia computer. The live motion videosignal is provided by the computer to a window on the computer display.The closed captioned data is captured and is placed in a separate windowon the computer display. The computer is used to vary the sizes andlocations of the windows containing the live motion video and the closedcaptioned data, as well as the character of the text, its background,the remaining screen “wallpaper”, etc.

It should be understood that while the description herein will bedirected to a separate and free standing computer, the present inventioncan be built into and form part of a television set, or may be disguisedas a television set or the equivalent. It may be built into a homeentertainment and utility product which contains audio controls, a VCR,a video screen, home security modules, a computer, etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a method of providingclosed captioned data to a television viewer is comprised of detectingclosed captioned data signals transmitted in conjunction with atelevision signal, decoding the data signals to caption display signals,and displaying the caption display signals on an auxiliary screenseparate from a screen displaying the television signals.

In accordance with another embodiment, the method described abovefurther includes providing the caption display signals to a computermicroprocessor, providing the television signal to a computer videodisplay circuit, processing the caption data signals to control at leastthe location of display of the decoded signal, displaying the televisionsignal on a display screen and displaying the caption display signals atthe location on said display screen, the television screen being awindow displayed on a computer screen, the decoded data being containedin a window on the display screen and constituting the auxiliary screen.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the invention will be obtained by reading thedescription of the invention below, with reference to the followingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the form of a closed captioned signal transmittedwith a standard television signal,

FIG. 2A illustrates a display screen of a television program and aseparate display of closed captioned text on a separate display screenin accordance with an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2B illustrates a single display screen containing separate windows,one containing and displaying a full motion video program and the othercontaining and diplaying closed captioned text,

FIG. 3isillustrates a block diagram of the architecture of a multimediacomputer on which an embodiment of the present invention may be carriedout,

FIG. 4isillustrates a block diagram of a part of the architecture of astandard non-multimedia computer on which another embodiment of thepresent invention may be carried out,

FIG. 5isillustrates a block diagram of a part of a video interfacecircuit which can be used to carry out an embodiment of the presentinvention, and

FIG. 6isillustrates an algorithm used by the computer used to carry outthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning now to FIG. 2A, a video signal containing a closed captionedsignal is received via cable or antenna lead 5. The signal is fed tostandard television set 7, and as well, to computer 9. Television set 7displays the video signal without the closed captioned text. Thecomputer contains a video interface circuit that decodes the closedcaptioned signal, and provides it to a computer display 11. The decodedclosed captioned signal is at least temporarily resident in a randomaccess memory (RAM) of the computer, its character such as font and fontsize, color, background, display mode such as roll on, etc., can becontrolled by the computer. This may be enabled by the control codes inthe closed captioned signal, or manually by the user, or partly by both.

Further, the closed captioned text data that is resident in RAM may bestored in a file on the hard disk drive of the computer, or on a floppydisk, whereby it may be later retrieved and printed out as a record ofthe spoken part of the program. This also provides a means fordistributing printed materials to viewers of closed captioned data whichmay be different than that which is spoken.

FIG. 2B illustrates a multimedia computer screen 13 in accordance withanother embodiment of the invention. In this case, the video signal isonly provided to a multimedia computer video interface circuit, and isnot provided to a separate television screen. The interface circuitdigitizes the video signal and the computer places it into a full motionvideo window 15 on the computer display 13. The closed captioned textdata is decoded, and is placed into a second window 17 on the computerdisplay 13. Both the closed captioned text data and video signals arelocated respectively in video memory, and at least temporarily in RAM inthe computer at least temporarily in the computer , and therefore theircharacters may be manipulated. For example, the size, location andrelative dimensions of the window displaying the video program may bechanged to suit the program being transmitted, e.g. either standard orhigh definition. The size, location and relative dimensions of thewindow displaying the closed captioned text may be changed to suit theviewer. Since the text data is ASCII, it may be controlled to bedisplayed in any font and size supported by the computer, and as well inany color and on any background color or design supported by thecomputer.

FIG. 3 illustrates the architecture of a multimedia computer, such asone on which the present invention may be carried out. The computer iscomprised of a main bus 19 to which a microprocessor 20, RAM 21, a harddisk drive 22 and a printer 23 via a serial or parallel port areconnected. A high speed bus 25 having the capacity to carry data signalsat live motion video rates has video RAM 26 connected to it, as well asgraphics control circuit 27, and video interface circuit 30. AmediatingAn arbitration circuit 32 is connected to graphics controlcircuit 27 and to video interface circuit 30, to control which of thecircuits 27, 30 has access to high speed bus 25. Each of the circuits27, 30 is connected to a bus interface circuit 34, which is alsoconnected to the host or system bus 19 for receiving control and datasignals, and for providing signals thereto.

A random access memory and digital to analog converter (RAMDAC) 36 isconnected to high speed bus 25 and converts video signals stored invideo RAM 26 to analog signals. The analog signals are applied to avideo monitor 38 for display.

The video monitor 38 corresponds preferably to computer display 13referred to in respect of FIG. 2B, and could correspond to the display11 referred to in respect of FIG. 2A. The display 11 need not be thedisplay of a multimedia computer of the type illustrated in FIG. 3, andcould be the standard display of a normal computer.

It is preferred that the computer on which the present invention iscarried out is similar to the one described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/092,477 filed Jul. 16, 1993, invented by Robert P.Bicevskis, Adrian H. Hartog, Gordon Caruk and Michael A. Alford entitled“Multi-Media Computer Architecture”, which is incorporated herein byreference. However, any multimedia computer which can receive a videointerface circuit that can operate as described herein and which candisplay live motion video in a controllable window while providinganother window in which other material is shown can be used.

In operation, in accordance with the second embodiment, and as describedin the aforenoted patent application, a video signal (which may havepassed through a television tuner and thus is baseband video) is appliedto the video interface circuit 30. The circuit digitizes the signal andstores it in video RAM 26. In conjunction with graphics circuit 27 whichgenerates a window, the video signal is read out of video RAM 26, isscaled and timed to be contained within the window, and is applied toRAMDAC 36. The analog output signal is applied to video monitor 38 fordisplay, e.g. as with respect to window 15 in FIG. 2B.

As will be described in more detail below, the video in line 21 of theodd video fields is detected and decoded by the closed captioned circuit40 of the video interface circuit 30. The decoded data is stored invideo RAM 26. It is then placed into another window by means of graphicscircuit 27, which is scaled and timed to provide its size and displayposition using parameters provided under control of processor 20, and issent to the RAMDAC 36 with other video data, to be displayed on videomonitor 38, e.g. as window 17 on display 13 as in FIG. 2B.

The graphics circuit 27 or the video circuit 30 can also determinewhether the closed captioned data is control data or ASCII text, andprovide this data to the processor 20, which can analyze the controldata and control the parameters of the displayed text accordingly. Forexample the control data can be looked up in a table stored in RAM 21 orin video circuit 30, to obtain instructions corresponding to the controldata bytes, and send instructions to graphics circuit 27 to display thetext accordingly. Alternatively, computer keyboard 24 can be used toselect text style, size, display mode and other characteristics offeredto the user on the display 38 in a setup procedure of a graphical userinterface controlled by graphics circuit 27.

In accordance with the first embodiment of the invention, instead ofusing a multimedia form of computer such as that described above, astandard computer is used. In this case, a video interface circuit 42 isconnected to the main bus 19 of the computer, to which the basebandvideo is applied. A graphics interface circuit 44 such as a well knownVGA circuit is connected to the bus 19, to which a standard monitor suchas a VGA monitor 38 is connected.

In this case, the video circuit 42 receives, detects and decodes theclosed captioned signal from line 21 of the input video signal andapplies it to bus 19 of the computer. Microprocessor 20 controls storageof the decoded closed captioned signal in RAM 21. It then accesses thesignal to determine whether the signal is control code or ASCII text,and operates on the text in accordance with the control code, or inaccordance with other control signals applied via keyboard 24 to displaythe text on video display 38. In this manner the size, color, backgroundand display mode for the closed captioned text is controlled.

Indeed, the text may be inserted in a window on the screen, and thegraphics circuit may be controlled by the control program and themicroprocessor to perform other functions on the screen depending on thetext or control codes. For example, in a set-up sequence in the eventthe closed captioned control code defines the color of the text to bedisplayed as green, the program can access a look-up table and displayvarious colors of green to the user beside a window displaying the text,whereby the user, who may have some green color-blindness, can selectthe most legible color of green (or indeed some other color), fordisplay. This data can be stored on the hard disk drive 22, for futurereference, which can be accessed and used each time the closed captionedcontrol code defines green as the display color.

Similarly, the graphics circuit can be controlled to provide othergraphical and/or text in or around the closed captioned text, such aswallpaper, still or moving images, selection menus, a selection cursor,etc.

In either of the embodiments, the video interface circuit or thecomputer under control of the processor 20 carries out the followingfunctions, as shown in FIG. 5.

A source of video containing a closed captioned data signal is carriedvia input line 51 to analog-to-digital converter 53. The resultingdigital signal is captured in a memory 55 which is preferably local tothe video interface circuit. Scan line 21 of every odd video field isextracted from memory 55 and is transferred to local memory 57 (such asmemory 21 in FIG. 3). Once the scan line containing the closed captioneddata is in the local memory, a software algorithm can be used to decodethe closed captioned data and display it on a monitor or store it on adisk-based ASCII file.

The decoding phase of the process involves detecting and extracting theencoded data from the video stream, and then interpreting the data andtranslating it into displayable information.

The detecting phase involves applying samples of the signal shown inFIG. 1 to a phase locked loop (PLL) 59, which triggers on the zerocrossings of the 0.5035 MHz run-in signal. The signal is also applied toregister 61, to which the PLL is connected. The PLL thus determines thelocation within the captured scan line stored in register 61 of the 16bits of closed captioned data. Alternatively, the PLL could determinethe location by being coupled to memory 57, which of course functions asa register.

The data is then extracted by computing the average value of severalsamples in the location of each bit of data and determining whether thetransmitted bit is a zero or a one based on a threshold, or based on anupper and lower threshold, in detector 63. This averaging and thresholdprocedure is repeated for each of the 16 bits of data to produce twobytes of odd parity closed captioned data for every field processed.Each byte has 7 significant bits (7 bit ASCII) and odd parity.

Because the data is fundamentally black and white, the detectionfunction should examine either the luma (Y) portion of the signal, orthe green portion of the signal, depending on whether the circuit iscapturing YUV or RGB data. Green is preferred because typically whendigitizing to 16 bits per pixel RGB data, the color component bit weightused is 565 (5 bits of red, 6 bits of green, and 5 bits of blue). Thisresults in one extra bit of green data than red or blue, thus improvingthe accuracy of the data detection.

The output of the detection phase (detector 63) is then processed in theinterpretation phase (interpreter 65). The interpretation algorithm isillustrated in FIG. 6, and involves parsing the two bytes of data whichwere extracted during the detection phase. Because some closed captionsequences are encoded as two bytes which are transmitted in the samefield, the data bytes are preferably passed in pairs to interpreter 65,which maintains the display. The interpreter parses the ASCII byte pairsand interprets their meaning. It handles detection of all the variousformatting codes which can be embedded in closed captioned dataincluding color, style, and positioning information as well as thetextual data itself, in accordance with the aforenoted FCC-91-119standard. The data are applied to bus 19 whereby it can be dealt with byprocessor 20.

As shown in FIG. 6, the interpreter interprets each byte pair anddecides what type of code the bytes represent. If the bytes arecharacter data, then these bytes are placed into an internal table atthe next cursor location and are drawn on the display using the currentcolor and style (at startup the cursor should be set at 0,0 on thedisplay, and the style should start as plain white text).

If the bytes are determined to be closed captioned control code thenthey are preferably used to modify the cursor position, pen color andstyle effecting the next text characters that are parsed. Decodedcaption data is stored internally in a character map (or grid) with asingle byte storing the character and a second byte storing the formatof the character.

A pop-on caption mode should not render characters to the display, butinstead should cache the characters until an “end-caption” command isreceived.

The stored data can then be provided using the graphics circuit 44 (FIG.4) or 27 (FIG. 3) to the associated computer display, in a windowgenerated by a resident graphics user interface (GUI), or generally onthe screen without generating a GUI window.

While the various process steps have been illustrated as block elements,it is preferred that all of the process steps should be handled bysoftware. For example the PLL is preferred to be a software PLL, thedetection and interpretation module should be software modules, etc. Thesoftware modules can reside in RAM 21 (called from hard drive 22 whenrequired), and can be performed by control processor 20 to perform therequired functions as required by the steps described above and in FIG.6.

It should be noted that the 0.5035 MHz run-in signal can be detectedwithout a phase locked loop in software. For example, zero crossings ofthe run-in signal can be detected, and the closed captioned data locatedfrom that method. Other methods could be used within the skill of aperson skilled in the art.

Closed captioned data can be transmitted in two different channels. Incurrent systems, only one channel can be viewed at a time. Using thepresent invention, both channels can be decoded and the captured closedcaption data can be displayed at the same time.

The closed captioned data control codes define 2, 3 and 4 line roll-updisplay modes to avoid obscuring parts of the video program display. Thepresent invention can convert those modes to full screen (e.g. 15 linedisplay ) without obscuring the video program being watched.

By allowing closed captioned text to be saved to a file on disk, apermanent record of a program can be kept. Thus a transcript can be usedto facilitate looking back over earlier details, such as in newsprograms, lectures, etc.

A person understanding this invention may now conceive of alternativestructures and embodiments or variations of the above. All of thosewhich fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto are consideredto be part of the present invention.

1. A method of providing closed captioned data to a television viewer comprising: (a) detecting closed captioned data signals transmitted in conjunction with a television signal, (b) decoding said data signals to caption display signals, (c) displaying said caption display signals on an auxiliary screen separate from a screen displaying said television signals, (d) providing said caption display signals to a computer microprocessor, (e) providing said television signal to a computer video display circuit, (f) processing said caption data signals to control at least the location of display of said decoded signal, (g) displaying said television signal on a display screen and displaying said caption display signals at said location on said display screen, (h) said television screen being a window displayed on a computer screen, (i) said decoded data being contained in a window on said display screen and constituting said auxiliary screen.
 2. A The A method of claim 1, for providing closed captioned data and video data on a display, the method comprises the steps of: a) receiving a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data; b) decoding the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; c) digitizing the video data to produce digital video data; d) associating the digital video data in a first window on the display; e) associating the decoded closed captioned data in a second window for subsequent presentation on the display, wherein the first and second windows, when presented, are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein, when presented, locations of the first and second windows are based on control input; wherein the control input is at least one of: a control code contained in the closed captioned data and a control signal, wherein the control input further controls at least one of size of the first window, size of the second window, size of text of the decoded closed captioned data, color of the text of the decoded closed captioned data, background of the second window and display mode of the decoded captioned data.
 3. The method of claim 1 2, wherein the display comprises a computer display or a television, and wherein the second window is located above, below, or to a side of the first window on the display.
 4. The method of claim 1 2 further comprises: locking a phase locked loop to a run-in signal of the closed captioned data, obtaining data bits of the closed caption data by sampling the data bits and computing an average value of several samples of each data bit and determining whether each of the data bits is a zero or a one based on the average value being above or below a predetermined threshold.
 5. A The method of claim 4, for providing captioned data and video data on a display, the method comprises the steps of: a) receiving a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data; b) decoding the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; c) digitizing the video data to produce digital video data; d) associating the digital video data in a first window on the display; e) associating the decoded closed captioned data in a second window for subsequent presentation on the display, wherein the first and second windows, when presented, are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein, when presented, locations of the first and second windows are based on control input; locking a phase locked loop to a run-in signal of the closed captioned data, and obtaining data bits of the closed caption data by sampling the data bits and computing an average value of several samples of each data bit and determining whether each of the data bits is a zero or a one based on the average value being above or below a predetermined threshold wherein the data bits comprise a pair of bytes of data representing at least one of characters and captioning code, further including passing the bytes of data to a computer microprocessor, determining whether the bytes of data are captioning code and if so controlling at least one of a display cursor position on said auxiliary screen, character color, and style of subsequent characters to be displayed by means of said microprocessor, determining whether the bytes of data are character data and if so displaying corresponding characters in sequence on the second window starting at either of a default cursor position or at a cursor position designated by the captioning code if preceded by a cursor position indicating captioning code.
 6. The method of claim 1 2 further comprises storing the decoded closed captioned data such that, at a subsequent time, a transcript of the closed captioned data may be obtained.
 7. A method of providing closed captioned data to a television viewer comprising: (a) detecting closed captioned data signals transmitted in conjunction with a television signal, (b) decoding said data signals to caption display signals, (c) displaying said caption display signals on an auxiliary screen separate from a screen displaying said television signals, (d) providing said caption display signals to a computer microprocessor, (e) processing said caption display signals to control at least one of font and size of said caption display signals, (f) in which the closed captioned data signal includes an initial sinusoidal run-in signal followed by data bits, and (g) in which the detection step includes locking a phase locked loop to the run-in signal, locating the data bits and obtaining closed captioned data bits by sampling the data bits and computing the average value of several samples in the location of each data bit and determining whether each data bit is a zero or a one based on the average value being above or below a predetermined threshold.
 8. A method defined in claim 7 in which the data bits comprise a pair of bytes of data representing at least one of characters and captioning code, further including passing the bytes of data to a computer microprocessor, determining whether the bytes of data are captioning code and if so controlling at least one of a display cursor position on said auxiliary screen, character color, and style of subsequent characters to be displayed by means of said microprocessor, determining whether the bytes of data are character data and if so displaying corresponding characters in sequence on said auxiliary screen starting at either of a default cursor position or at a cursor position designated by the captioning code if preceded by a cursor position indicating captioning code.
 9. A method for providing closed captioned data and video data on a display, the method comprises the steps of: a) receiving a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data; b) decoding the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; c) digitizing the video data to produce digital video data; d) associating the digital video data in a first window on the display; e) associating the decoded closed captioned data in a second window for subsequent presentation on the display, wherein the first and second windows, when presented, are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein, when presented, locations of the first and second windows are based on control input; wherein the step (d) further comprises: storing the digitized video data in video memory to produce stored video data; retrieving the stored video data from memory to produce retrieved video data; scaling and timing the retrieved video data to be contained within the first window to produce scaled video data; and converting the scaled video data to analog video data, wherein the analog video data is presented on the display in the first window.
 10. A method for providing closed captioned data and video on a display, the method comprises the steps of: a) receiving a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data; b) decoding the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; c) digitizing the video data to produce digital video data; d) associating the digital video data in a first window on the display; e) associating the decoded captioned data in a second window for subsequent presentation on the display, wherein the first and second windows, when presented, are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein, when presented, locations of the first and second windows are based on control input; wherein step (e) further comprises: storing the decoded closed captioned data in video memory to produce stored closed captioned data; retrieving the stored closed captioned data from memory to produce retrieved closed captioned data; scaling and timing the retrieved closed captioned data to be contained within the second window to produce scaled closed captioned data; and converting the scaled closed captioned data to analog closed captioned data, wherein the analog closed captioned data is presented on the display in the second window.
 11. An apparatus for displaying closed captioned data and video data comprises: video interface circuit operably coupled to receive a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data, wherein the video interface circuit digitizes the video data to produce digital video data and decodes the closed captioned data or produce decoded closed captioned data; and a graphics control circuit operable to generate a first and second windows, wherein the graphics control circuit associates the digital video data with the first window and associates the decoded closed captioned data with the second window, wherein the first and second windows are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein locations of the first and second windows are based on control input; wherein the control input is a control signal, wherein the control input further controls at least one of: size of the first window, size of the second window, and size of text of the decoded closed captioned data, color of the text of the decoded closed captioned data, background of the second window and display mode of the decoded closed captioned data.
 12. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprises video memory operably coupled to the video interface and the graphics control circuit, wherein the video memory store the digital video data and the decoded closed captioned data prior to being placed in the first and second windows.
 13. An apparatus for displaying closed captioned data and video data comprises: video interface circuit operably coupled to receive a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data, wherein the video interface circuit digitizes the video data to produce digital video data and decodes the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; a graphics control circuit operable to generate a first and second windows, wherein the graphics control circuit associates the digital video data with the first window and associates the decoded closed captioned data with the second window, wherein the first and second windows are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein location of the first and second windows are based on control input; and a random access memory digital to analog converter operably coupled to the graphics control circuit, wherein the random access memory digital to analog converter converts the digital video data and the decoded closed captioned data in to analog video signals and analog closed captioned signals, respectively, that are provided to a display, such that the display presents the first and second windows.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the display comprises a computer display or a television, and wherein the second window is located above, below, or to a side of the first window on the display.
 15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the graphics control circuit associates the digital video data with the first window by: storing the digitized video data in video memory to produce stored video data; retrieving the stored video data from memory to produce retrieved video data; scaling and timing the retrieved video data to be contained within the first window to produce scaled video data; and providing the scaled video data to the random access memory digital to analog converter to produce the analog video data, wherein the analog video data is presented on the display in the first window.
 16. An apparatus for displaying closed captioned data and video data comprises: video interface circuit operably coupled to receive a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data, wherein the video interface circuit digitizes the video data to produce digital video data and decodes the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; and a graphics control circuit operable to generate a first and second windows, wherein the graphics control circuit associates the digital video data with the first window and associates the decoded closed captioned data with the second window, wherein the first and second windows are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein locations of the first and second windows are based on control input; wherein the graphics control circuit associates the decoded closed captioned data with the second window by: storing the decoded closed captioned data in video memory to produce stored closed captioned data; retrieving the stored closed captioned data from memory to produce retrieved closed captioned data; scaling and timing the retrieved closed captioned data to be contained within the second window to produce scaled closed captioned data; and providing the scaled closed captioned data to the random access memory digital to analog converter to produce the analog closed captioned data, wherein the analog closed captioned data is presented on the display in the second window.
 17. A digital storage medium that stores programming instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to provide non-obscuring closed captioned data, the digital storage medium comprises: a first storage means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to receive a video signal that includes the closed captioned data and the video data; a second storage means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to decode the closed captioned data to produce decoded closed captioned data; a third storage means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to digitize the video data to produce digital video data; a fourth storage means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to associate the digital video data in a first window on the display; a fifth storage means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to associate the decoded closed captioned data in a second window for subsequent presentation on the display, wherein the first and second windows, when presented, are non-obscuring of each other, and wherein, when presented, locations of the first and second windows are based on control input.
 18. The digital storage medium of claim 17, further comprises means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to identify the control input as at least one of: a control code contained in the closed captioned data and a control signal, wherein the control input further controls at least one of: size of the first window, size of the second window, size of text of the decoded closed captioned data, color of the text of the decoded closed captioned data, background of the second window and display mode of the decoded closed captioned data.
 19. The digital storage medium of claim 17 further comprises means for storing programming instructions that cause the computer to provide the first and second windows to a computer display or a television, wherein the second window is located above, below, or to a side of the first window on the display.
 20. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the control signal is user controllable.
 21. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the control signal is user controllable. 